Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] I am very pleased to speak on the Dental Benefits Amendment Bill 2021, because this measure and this scheme are very, very important in our healthcare system. I welcome the government's changes to expand the eligibility of Labor's child dental benefits scheme by removing the lower age eligibility limits and opening it up to children between zero and two years of age.

I'm proud that 10 years ago I stood in this parliament and spoke on the bill as Labor's first step in our dental reform package. Since Labor introduced this incredibly important reform, it has provided over $2.3 billion in benefits and delivered more than 38 million services to over three million Australian children. Three million Australian children have potentially avoided the physical and mental health impacts of untreated dental conditions, thanks to this program, with massive flow-on benefits for their families, their communities and the broader Australian society. This is a great Labor legacy. I would like to congratulate the member for Sydney, who was instrumental in ensuring that this be dealt with. It is so critically important. It has made many families' lives easier. I'm pleased to see that the government, despite it's previous attempts to attack this program or water it down, has now, with this modest change, built on Labor's legacy.

I've always been an incredibly vocal champion for having more public funding and more public access to dental care for those who need it. Having good quality care and dental hygiene has a significant impact on the quality of life for so many people. First and foremost, there is the positive impact that good dental hygiene has on people's health and wellbeing. We must ensure that dental care is looked at through a preventive lens—as we should do with health in general. Otherwise, it will put a strain on our dental system. Living with poor dental health can be extremely painful. It can affect speech and sleep, as well as the ability to eat. Having poor dental care and poor teeth and oral health can also have adverse social impacts on a person's mental health, on their confidence and, indirectly, on their social life. I have heard many stories from people in my electorate who suffer embarrassment around their appearance if they are missing teeth or have decaying teeth. It leads them to avoid eating in public or enjoying meals with family and friends, and to be afraid to smile and to show their teeth in photos. This is really sad. I've also had constituent saying they believe they have missed out on job opportunities due to their appearance, with missing and decaying teeth. This is of great concern.

It's important to note that, if people are not able to start good dental treatment in childhood, poor dental health will follow them into adulthood. That's why, for a long time, I've been an advocate for supporting preventive care. We need to ensure that small problems in childhood, when it comes to dental care and oral hygiene, are addressed and do not become bigger problems in adult life.

I've heard many difficult stories from locals in my community in the southern suburbs of Adelaide about the impact that poor dental health can have on their lives or on the lives of their children. I've also heard about the lack of access to broader services relating to teeth and other aspects of the mouth. I was contacted by a mother whose son was dealing with a speech impediment, and his speech pathologist advised that braces would assist in correcting some of these issues. After seeing a dentist to have her son's teeth assessed, she was advised that the wait for braces would be up to two years and come with a gap fee of about $1,000. This mother was shocked at the long wait time they could face to get what could be life-changing dental treatment for her son. She was also shocked by the cost. Most families don't have a spare $1,000 sitting in the bank for situations like this. To have braces put on through the private system could leave parents with out-of-pocket costs of over $5,000—and in some instances double that.

This highlights that access to dental care is really important. When it comes to things like speech and speech development, it has a critical impact on a child's long-term development. It also shows that early access is super important in mitigating what might otherwise be lifelong consequences. I'm pleased to say that my office was able to assist this mother in securing dental treatment for her son sooner than the two year wait time she had been given. But you shouldn't have to come to your member of parliament's office to facilitate this. It should be available and accessible to everyone.

I'm also frequently contacted by constituents who are in desperate need of access to emergency dental care. A number of them are adults, not children, who would have benefited from preventive access to dental care as children. One of my constituents in his 30s contacted me to say he was told it would be a 16-day wait to see a dentist for a very painful toothache. Understandably, he was quite upset about the waiting time for what should have been a simple check, as it was causing him deep pain which was really very debilitating. Another elderly gentleman contacted my office seeking help after partially breaking one of his front teeth. He contacted the SA Dental Service and was told it would be a two-week wait to see a dentist. This man was in a lot of pain and said the rough edge of his broken tooth would rub against his lip, causing it to bleed. Patients should not have to wait for this type of emergency dental service just because they can't afford the large out-of-pocket costs that some dentists charge in the private system.

Another constituent contacted me to seek assistance with the cost of dental care after being charged $60 in out-of-pocket costs to have a dental infection looked at. The man was receiving a disability support pension, and the out-of-pocket cost of $60 was a huge impost on his finances.

What we need to see is action taken. We shouldn't rest on our laurels when it comes to improving dental health in this country. All Australians deserve access to universal, prompt and world-class medical care, and that does need to be dental care as well. I think it is critical, unlike this government that has regularly sought to undermine the principle of universal access to Medicare. This was the government that proposed a $7 co-payment—$7 tax!—to go and see your GP and that is making huge amounts of cuts to the Medicare rebates as we speak in the middle of a pandemic, not giving doctors any notice. They have a bad track record of not only trying to discredit the program that we are debating here today but also constantly attacking our universal healthcare system.

Our universal healthcare system and the children's dental program that we're debating today have been incredibly important Labor achievements, but they have not only been important for those who have benefited but been important for society as a whole. So, while I'm pleased the government is making this improvement to this bill, I'm hoping that we will see an end to this ideological attack on the public healthcare system, on the dental care that is provided to children as well as the national partnerships, which at some point this government also decided to try and cut when it came to dental care. We need to be investing more, not less, ensuring that our Australian citizens are in the best health possible, that we're preventing the worst and they can live happy and healthy lives.

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